


Insert Coin to Continue

by enemytosleep



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Arcades, Best Friends, Crushes, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-09-28 01:24:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17173193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enemytosleep/pseuds/enemytosleep
Summary: Two nerds, one arcade, and a universe full of discussions.





	Insert Coin to Continue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tassos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tassos/gifts).



> Written for the 2018 Fandom_Stocking exchange on Dreamwidth.

“Oooo-ooo-oooo!” Pidge was so excited she’d vibrated past words and gone straight to animated noises as she pointed at the illuminated console in front of her and bounced up and down. “They’ve got Killbot Phantasm One!”

“No way! Really?” Hunk hustled to close the distance. 

Sure enough, the Drazan burrowmen somehow, inexplicably, had an arcade version of the classic Earth video game in their Clear Day festival gaming tent. Space would never cease to amaze him, ever.

“I call sword hero!” Pidge shouted, jamming a token into the coin slot and gripping the corners of the machine like anyone would be foolish enough to try and take her spot. Hunk slid next to her as she drummed her fingers on the console while the loading screen began a new game sequence, the old 16-bit music piping loudly through built-in speakers.

“I’ll play the cleric,” he said, adding his own token. “Where’s Lance?”

“I think he went off to go win something for Allura, which is stupid because he could help us win tickets _right here_ playing the ultimate fantasy RPG in _arcade mode_.”

“It’s too bad she couldn’t have joined us, though.”

“Yeah,” Pidge said, dropping her eyes from the game screen for a moment. “Hopefully she feels better when we get back.”

“I’m sure she will. Let’s win those tickets first.” 

“Oh it’s _on_ ,” Pidge said, and her expression was terrifying behind her glasses. Those poor, poor analog beasts of fantasy.

They both played through the first few levels with practiced ease, racking up the points and gathering the magic items that would prove indispensable in later levels. Pidge was ruthless, and Hunk loved her enthusiasm, even if she was sometimes a little scary.

“Get the crystal! Get the crystal!”

“I see it,” he said, then stuck his tongue out the side of his mouth and leaned his whole body hard to the left to help his character sprite reach the narrow ledge that contained it. No one could argue these video game mechanics against him and win. Leaning your real life body totally helped your video game sprite, always. “Got it!”

“Aaaaaahhh take that!” Pidge smote an undead lizardman with a giant flame sword.

Hunk’s cleric jumped back down to the main 2-D platform and they delved further into the dungeon. They each automatically inserted a new token when prompted to continue to the next level.

“Hey Pidge, isn’t it weird that the Drazan, a faraway alien race who live in underground burrows and caves almost their entire lives, have Earth technology like this? And how are they powering this?” He quickly peeked to the side of the console as if to glean the information from the mess of cables behind it. “Do you think any Balmerans do?”

“Are you missing Shay again?” Pidge teased, making kiss-y noises. 

“Maybe,” Hunk chuckled. “I mean, wouldn’t it be cool if she could be here too? They spent so much time mining for the Galra, they deserve some fun. I bet she’s never played a video game before.”

“Yeah, totally. You should invite her to the next Clear Day festival.” Pidge gave him a quick glance, waggling her eyebrows salaciously.

“If there _is_ another Clear Day festival.”

“Yeah…” she said, sounding a little deflated. “Even with Zarkon and Lotor gone we’ve still got Honurva’s robeasts to worry about.”

“I know! That family is like literally the worst!” He cast a healing cantrip on himself and followed Pidge’s hero. “I hope Shay and the Balmerans are okay.”

“I’m sure they’re fine. They’ve taken good care of themselves ever since they joined the Voltron Coalition.”  

“I hope you’re right,” Hunk said.

“I just wish that these crazy bad guys would stop trying to take over the universe every two minutes so we could all just enjoy ourselves for real and not worry about what comes next!”

“I guess that’s just part of life,” he said. “Things are always happening and you have to do your best to keep up.”

Pidge harrumphed and pushed out her bottom lip. 

“You’re right though, the Voltron Coalition is doing a ton of good. We’ll get there, where we can all sit down and have the best snack food in the cosmos while introducing the Balmerans to Earth’s best gam— watch that skeleton!”

“Got it, got it, got it!”

The console pushed out more point tickets, and Hunk wondered if they’d have enough left over to get a little something for Shay too. Pidge was right: she and her people were probably okay now that they’d been liberated and working with the Coalition. 

“Isn’t there a hidden treasure chest somewhere around here?” he asked. “I need more mana crystals or I’m out of healing spells.”

“Yeah, once we get past the lava pool.”

“Oh, right right.”

For now, Hunk was glad to worry about this game. They could worry about the big stuff tomorrow.


End file.
